Wednesday, October 24, 2007

October Shadows Rundown

This latest piece was done for the October Shadows show that was held at Rick Baker's FX studio in LA a few weeks back. Getting to see some of Rick Baker's work up close was amazing, but I'll get to that in a sec. It was a Halloween themed show (and Day of the Dead). I chose to do my take on three very well known (or not) Mexican urban legends/myths.

If you grew up in a family with any kind of Latin roots, on more than one occasion, you would hear stories of "El Cucuy". The Boogeyman of Latin American culture. Know one knows what he/it looks like, just that he's waaaaay creepy and would probably take you away if you didn't go to sleep when your parents told you to. That was the only reason for the skulls. Figured he'd show off the skulls of the kids he kidnapped. Also thought that a painted half human and half skull face might give reason to why the Day of the Dead skulls are painted the way they are.

Another story is of La Llorana (the woman that cries) There are so many versions of this story. Basically, in the end, the woman ends up drowning her kids in a river because of some messed up relationship shenanigans. After that, she regrets it. Just another campfire story. You've got to love Latin families. Instead of telling you safe stories to go to bed or "be safe" near the river, they instead choose to scare the crap out of you.

I thought this close up would give you an idea of how the cracks in the wood would show up. Kind of added to the creepiness of it all.

The last image is of the Chupacabra, and unless you've lived under a rock or never watched X-files, you've heard that story already. The title of the piece is "The Unholy Trinity of Mexican Folklore" Seemed appropriate.

I was pretty pleased with the frame too. Totally gave it a Mexican Gothic look. The painting was done with acrylics on Jamaican cherry wood. It's around 32 inces tall, without the frame.

I also finally got to meet Mr. Miles Teves. If your not familiar with his work, you really should treat yourself and check out his website. Amazing, amazing work. Miles did more than one piece for the show, besides the pumpkin head guy in the pic above. After you check out his website, go check out the rest of the pics from the show on the flicker account. I've been trying to beef it up the lately, and you'll get a better idea of the rest of the art from the show.

The main floor had a lot of these flying monkey statues around, and who doesn't like monkeys.

Up in the far right was the hallway that led to a room full of the creature and make up stuff. Unfortunately they wouldn't let you take pics (grrrrr). There was a lot of amazing work in there. For nostalgic reasons only, the American Werewolf in London busts had my vote hands down.

Theses shots were just of the Halloween decorations that they had around the gallery. Every party I go to this month will pale in comparison now. The dead guy in the coffin below was an artist that didn't make the deadline for the show.

There were also lots of really cool mask entries in the show.

Overall, it was a fun and crazy night. Again, if you have some time, check out the rest of the pics on the flicker account. I believe they will also be posting the artwork from the show on the Creature Features site, so check that out for updates. I'll be putting up some prints of this latest piece for sale soon too, so check back when you can. After all those Halloween pics, I hope everyone has a good one. Just be safe out there, otherwise El Cucuy will come ta get ya!

hot damn man...this is feckin' purdy...you are a master!! teach me so's i can do what you do...or at least pretend to do what you do...not on the same level of course, but still...oh, and i have your sam and max book here at work...i forgot to gives it to yous a long time ago.